Shirley Hill Witt (born April 17, 1934)[1] is an anthropologist, educator, author, civil rights activist, and former foreign service officer.
A member of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation, Wolf Clan, Witt was one of the first Native American women to earn a Ph.D.[1] She obtained her Ph.D. in evolutionary anthropology from the University of New Mexico in 1969.
As an employee of the U.S. Information Agency, she worked in South America (Venezuela and Paraguay) and Africa (Somalia and Zambia).
Soon after, she joined protestors in the Puget Sound region in the fight to secure fishing rights guaranteed by treaty.
Later that decade, she partnered with Council co-founder Herbert Blatchford to revitalize the Gallup Indian Center in New Mexico, where she was completing her PhD.